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Sam Osterhout sipped from his mug
Sam Osterhout sipped from his mug. “How I got back here from Junction City? Sure, I’d be happy to tell ya! “So, I was let out of the jail that I had locked myself in. Turns out people were kinda mad at me for breaking into the telegraph office, not to mention spreading the word about HRF. However, turns out that the old sherif, or constable, or whatever the title was…that guy had gotten HRF. The NEW guy was this nervous little kid, and he was willing to let me go with just a fine. He had bigger problems, especially since the plumbing in the jail had broken. No one was happier to get out of there than me. Of course, I was looking pretty sick, coughing and hacking, the whole works. So I was, quite forcibly, taken to an HRF triage center. Lumped into a giant crowd of the moaning and bleeding, and dying. And I’m, in truth, not even sick! Really! My case of HRF was just a cold! Can you believe that? It was aggravated by allergies, turns out that there was this mushroom that I’m allergic to spreading spores JUST outside of the jail. But, it turns out that all the time that I’m coughing and hacking, I get put into isolation and my clothes burnt, and blasted with water. Cold, cold…VERY cold water. But, while everyone else is getting sick, I’m getting better! Isolation, cleaning, and I got rid of all my old, possibly infected, possessions. At that point they think that I’m a drain on their supplies. So they give me some second-hand clothing, a couple of quid, and send me back to St. Louis on the train. And that was okay, until the Train was robbed. Yeah, a bunch of bandits. Nah, I don’t think they were anyone professional. People hopped up on spores and crap. They had guns, and made us all go to the back of the train and locked us in. They also took my money! Then they unhooked us and it was a good thing they did, because THAT was when the train derailed. Oh, you heard of that? Yeah…no no the explosion wasn’t THAT bright. But still pretty bright. The robbers? I assume that if they weren’t killed by the crash then the explosion certainly finished them off. So, after a bit of a wait, we got picked up by a rescue team that was sent to help us, and they got us transportation back him. I mean, they had to deal with that crashing airship…or were they the ones trying to help out about the fire? No, no, right…the fire was later. Eh, either way, we all got picked up by a ship and were heading back home. It was nice. There was good food, dry clothes, and everyone was willing to buy drinks to hear the stories of our train adventure. There was this one asshole, rooked me in poker, and was really impolite to the serving girls. However, everything else was great. Oh? How I was able to play poker with no money? Well, I was able to help this lady on the ship with a few porter errands and she gave me a few coins. Shame about that cat though…now where was I? Oh right, right. Everything was going good, and then the ship exploded. Okay, okay. I’m exaggerating. There’s was just a big THUMP and then people are shouting about a breach in the hull. It was a mine, can you believe it? They said it was an improvised thing, inbred river folk make them to pick off ships so they can raid them. The river folk had long since been ran out, but their surprises were still around. Most of them are duds, but one or two still have a kick. Thankfully, no one got hurt and the only thing that got ruined was that shipment of silk that was in the hold. Yeah, that jerk who was on the boat who cheated me and was fresh to the servers had his entire stock ruined. He said that he was bankrupt and his life was over. We had to keep him from hurling himself into the river. Anyway, we were lucky enough to be near a Nightman caravan and they were heading into the city, and we were able to buy a ride in. Sadly, we were attacked by some wild dogs on the way, but that’s life in the Nyx, yeah? Thankfully, we were able to fight them off. I was even able to hit one of them in the nose. Now, I apologized and paid them back, but…and they admitted this…that barrel was NOT labeled as having lantern oil in it. Also, who shoots flaming arrows these days? Well, that nightman tribe, I suppose. Anyway, so that’s how the fire started…yeah, that one. What, it’s still going? How many acres? Wow. How lucky we all got back into St. Louis! Anyway, I swung by my Cousin’s, see how she was doing, tell her about my little mishap. She was happy to see me, and we had a lovely time until that car ended up in the parlor. Hmm? Oh, drunk driver, terrible shame at how people don’t know better. We were fine. The driver not so much, turns out he’s related to someone in Parliament. So my cousin got a big payout to keep her mouth shut about the incident and the goat in the passenger seat. Oh, umm…best you forget I mentioned that. And that brings us to today! I finished work, what? Oh yeah, they always need people at the docks to work. Oh, you heard about that? Look, it was just two crates of onions. Spills happen all the time down there, you’d be appalled, we really need stricter safety rules. Of course, when people start talking about that, the bosses think they’re talking about ‘Unions’ and then people get fired. But, that’s a conversation for another day. So, I finished work and came into Selkirk’s for a drink, and sat against the wall. Then that boar’s head on the wall fell, hit me in the head, landed on my foot, and caused me to spill some my drink. So, yeah, today’s been slightly unlucky. But I have high hopes for tomorrow!”